Hello Ontbirders. The following has been circulating widely this week but perhaps not wide enough to come to the attention of all that would like to know. I believe it has been posted on the Facebook site Ontario Birds, the Toronto and Southern Ontario Birding site and eBird (check "Ontario Rare Bird Alert" data in your "My eBird"). An interesting Savannah Sparrow was photographed on the Spit this past Sunday on the same day as the Toronto CBC, although the photographer was not taking part in this event. Two photos have been posted. The bird has not been seen again because of course the Spit is only open on weekends (something that will change in the future I hope!). The Spit will be open again tomorrow morning though and I wanted to get the word out widely in case some hard core birders wanted to brave the weather and search for this bird. I have heard it suggested that the bird is not an "Ipswich" Sparrow after the photos were circulated to east coast birders. I'm not so certain myself. I just saw this species a couple weeks ago (6 birds at two sites on Sable Island, Nova Scotia) and the photos are certainly suggestive to me. It would be great to get some photos in different lighting and to have the bird seen by multiple observers. I hope to make it out myself after a morning engagement. "it was along a gravelly/rocky section between what the spit folks call 'endikements' 1 & 2, 3:30 pm" http://outdoorontario.net/birds/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13514 http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/alert/summary?sid=SN35610 Cheers, Andrew Keaveney 647-383-8894 (cell) _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
